5 posts tagged “business trips”
Back on the other side of the Great Firewall tomorrow, so no Vox for a few weeks. I will probably still send posts if I can, but won't be able to access it until the middle of July.
Wow, it's going to be a busy few weeks: meetings, discussions, observing, editing, writing, arguing...and that's just ONE job! I still have two other gigs I have to manage to keep up with after going into the office all day every day. But it's OK. I'm in a nice hotel in a great city...
But I hate leaving home for so long. I guess it's a good sign that after 5 years, I still miss Masa terribly when we're apart. A week is fine. Actually, a week might even be good. But three weeks sucks! We do end up talking on Skype at least once a day (usually twice) which is borderline pathetic (or maybe fully pathetic, I don't know).
But this time I feel that I have so MUCH to get back for: Masa (of course), closing on our house, getting ready to start renovating for several weeks, moving, Mags and Marie (I wonder if she'll remember me after being away for three weeks, I guess she probably will), plus all our friends who have fun stuff planned for later this summer.
It's good to have a little break from the routine, to be honest. And put in my face there to guarantee another 8-12 months of work on a new project (which means 8-12 months of INCOME). And hang out in Shanghai, a city I love (though it'd be so much better if Masa could come with me!).
I feel like getting slightly poetic here, to write about how lucky I feel at this time in my life: to be surrounded by close friends who give me so much, to have a job which though a bit dull at times, provides me with a good living and allows us to have our own place, travel, be productive. To be such an important part of Magdali's life, to feel invested here in Montreal. Leaving my life for three weeks is so good: it makes me reflect on how GREAT my life is and how very lucky I am.
And I am wide awake. Flight was uneventful, just long (15 hours from Chicago).
Damn. I have to leave for over three weeks. And on SUNDAY. Big corporate companies: grrrrr. I've been asking for a month when I was needed back without a word or an update about it. Then yesterday: "Can you be here Tuesday?"
First bit: Some guy in the UK bought a new iPhone and once he got it home and started futzing around with it, he noticed a photo already stored in memory. Turns out it's a photo of the girl at the factory in China, the person who made it! So UK guy posted the photo and it's become a true internet phenomenon in China with people trying hard to figure out who she is...full story here.
Second bit: In personal news, I'm off to Shanghai for ten days, leaving on the 8th. Company accepted my proposal, though slightly reduced terms since they will have to pay for semi-regular flights, visas, hotel rooms for me, etc. The editor also said that they'd pay me "off-shore," meaning (to her mind) "tax free," which is laughable! I will probably pay three times the tax in Canada than I'd pay in China! But whatever, once I'm working for them and once things are moving along, I can start to ask for things like more money... for the time being it seems good: I can do the work for the rest of the year, spend a bit of time in Shanghai to see if moving there again in the future is feasible. Mainly it'll be nice to just do something different and take on a new project, managing a team of writers and editors. Woo hoo.
I feel so lucky, actually. Two of the companies I've worked for for a long time are both very flexible: so I can just keep both gigs but cut back hours for a while if I need to. Anytime I want to take more hours, though, I can. The big publishing company I work for, too, is fairly flexible since it's project work: they just pitch me a big project and if I have time in the near 3-4 months, I can accept or reject it. I imagine I won't be doing much work for them over the next several months, but maybe I can squeeze in a project or two. So I'm going to be really busy, but I feel good about this. Job might end up going nowhere (it's a big company with lots of big company issues), but it's worth a go, at least...
So. Work changes. Maybe. I've been doing some work for this company that I used to work for many years ago. It's a Swedish/Swiss company but they have a big main office in Shanghai (and one in Boston); anyway, they've been asking me since July to move to Shanghai. I was seriously considering it, but told them that I couldn't until Masa's immigration was done. Even then, we'd have to investigate a Chinese visa for him (never an easy feat); they said they'd even offer him a PT job. Well, now it's crunch time and they are pressing me for an answer.
Ah...we really can't go now and I told her that I really can't say much more than that. But I offered to go to Shanghai several times a year, maybe a month or so each time. To me this would be ideal: Masa could come with me, spend a few weeks in Tokyo. We could keep our apartment and our base in Montreal. And the job is one I could easily do remotely, in fact, I do a similar job for two other companies now remotely with few problems. They seem flexible but who knows if they will go for this.
The money is slightly better than what I make now, but it's the chance to work for a much bigger company with lots of room for promotion that is appealing. They are offering me a fairly senior position, so part of me does think I should jump at it. But, again: I can't agree to it until the immigration thing is done and we can ensure Masa a visa there. And it'd mean going back to the 9 to 5 grind, sigh. And wearing a suit every day. Sigh sigh.
So...anyway. I do hope they go for my offer: three or four months a year working from Shanghai, better money, interesting work. Might be good. Or they might well say that they need someone there full-time in a few months. In which case, I told them I'd have to bow out. Anyway, in that case, I can keep my nice and easy lifestyle in our small but cute Montreal apartment heheh.
If they go for it, I'm off to Shanghai for two weeks in early September, leaving poor Masa here on his own since he still can't leave Canada. Luckily, he has a few more friends than before so he won't spend the entire time at home watching TV and playing with the cat (just most of his time).
